Expletive! - we're from Australia

May 28, 2017

Cattle saleyard

J in the Ellis island arrival hall

The Statue with Manhattan in the background

Today was forecast fine, so although it is likely to be another busy memorial weekend day, we decided we would go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island in the morning, and something else later. ha ha..........

Had a good breakfast with large chunks of fresh pineapple on offer today. We still haven't made ourselves waffles - mainly due to our waistlines! We headed out about 10:30 and planned to take a short subway ride to a stop close to the ferry terminals. Wrong! There were no Downtown trains at our stop. The sign said to go uptown a stop or 2, then get a downtown train there. Wrong! No downtown. C was getting a little tetchy and when a train approached slowed, then kept going , she said something quite rude. This was heard by a young girl nearby who looked a little shocked! C said "we're Australian" , as if this somehow explained the situation!!

So we went to Penn station (huge) and eventually found a no 1 train that was heading to South Ferry station. So we finally got there and went in search of the ferry terminal. We didn't have to look too hard - there were thousands of people. We found the ticket queue - it went halfway around Fort Clinton (a historic red stone Fort with shingle roofs. So we slowly shuffled around in the queue. C got talking to a young woman from California - again life histories were exchanged.

We finally reached the ticket office and got 2 seniors tickets ( I was free as I was in the bag!) then it was into the Security queue which was about 100m long to the building. I must also point out that the sky was buzzing with military choppers - some small, some were Blackhawks which were probably loaded with armed troops. There were also lots of Police about. Finally we got through the airline type security, and got into the Boarding queue that was a lot like a cattle sale yard. About 12:30 we finally boarded the Miss New York Ferry.

As J and C were a little peckish, they got some NY hot pretzels to ward off hunger. C rated them 2 out of 5 as they were a bit gluey and hard to swallow!

We got to Liberty Island and wandered around, looking at the statue of course, the views across to Manhattan, and of course the thousands of visitors of all nationalities. The statue is as impressive as you would imagine - a lovely copper green colour. We decided not to eat here - more queues. But we tried some famous lemonade that came in a plastic container shaped like the torch! Wasteful we know, but we binned the container!

Back to another queue as we waited for the ferry to Ellis Island. This was the point of entry for over 12 million immigrants entering the US. The buildings fell into disrepair after the facility ceased to operate in 1954, and was renovated in the 1990s. It is a attractive and interesting building, and all the more attractive for the lawns and large trees surrounding it. The main hall is impressive, domed ceilings lined with white tiles, and floors with red tiles. There was also an interesting museum showcasing many aspects of the many nationalities of people who had come there - dress, religion, belongings, photos, etc. outside is a series of stainless steel "walls" engraved with the names of people who had arrived here.

Then another queue to get the ferry back to Manhattan. By now it was getting cooler, with a strong breeze across the water. The station was a bit confusing but we asked some other travellers for advice and soon found a No1 train waiting to leave. It was not a long trip back to the 28th street station which is in our street.

After a brief break, we walked around the corner to the Black Iron Burger restaurant for tea. We got a table, and within about 25 minutes the place was full. We had some nice tasty burgers with fries and salad and Rose and Pale Ale. Satisfied we returned to the hotel for a coffee.

The weather is supposed to be rainy tomorrow - not sure what we will do - no doubt we will queue again!

And by the way, we had an armed SWAT team member on the jetty, and the boat!